1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of telephony. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for providing media such as music-on-hold.
2. Description of the Background Art
Telephony interactions frequently include a party invoking a hold feature to place at least one other party on hold during the interaction, and often for an extended period of time. Placing a party on hold using earlier analog telephone systems interrupted the audio (voice) connection between the parties, exposing the holding party to an often long and monotonous period of silence. Modern music-on-hold systems, however, replace the silence with one of a hold tone, music or a generalized hold-initiator service message.
Current music-on-hold (MOH) systems provide, within a communication system, for a hold-initiator device, a hold-initiator PBX server or intermediary network MOH service to stream a fixed audio signal via a satellite, a computer, a PSTN, cellular or other network to the holding-party device during a hold period. The hold period is initiated by the MOH service detecting that a hold-initiating party has placed a receiving party on hold, and ends in response to the MOH service detecting that the hold-initiating party has terminated the hold feature. Upon termination, the MOH system returns the holding party to the telephony interaction, e.g., by re-initiating the voice connection or otherwise providing for continuing the exchange of voice audio signals of the parties that was interrupted by the hold period.
Unfortunately, current MOH systems provide either low-quality MOH audio, rendering the MOH audio unpleasant to the listener, or with newer systems, higher quality MOH audio than can be utilized by a receiving device. Current MOH also utilizes processing and network resources for providing the MOH audio during the telephony interaction, which resources might otherwise be available for other purposes. Furthermore, most MOH systems present a fixed one-size-fits all type music selections, such as so-called “elevator music” that is not desirable to many on-hold users. MOH has thus come to be considered an annoyance rather than a technological advance, resulting in further products targeted at either silencing the MOH audio (as with earlier analog systems) or attempting to select and stream higher quality audio from the MOH service to the holding-party device during the hold period. Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that provide for MOH while avoiding the problems encountered with existing communication systems employing MOH.